- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Amazing Jake's
Categories: Restaurants Pizza Active Life Amusement Parks Active Life Bowling Pizza, Amusement Parks, Bowling [Edit]
1830 E Baseline RdMesa, AZ 85204
(480) 926-7499
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 11 am - 9 pm
Fri 11 am - 11 pm
Sat 10 am - 10 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- Free
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Very Loud
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Dogs Allowed:
- No
25 reviews for Amazing Jake's
Review Highlights
-
"Sometimes it's fun to act like a kid again." In 3 reviews -
"...has several different themed dining rooms and lots of food..." In 3 reviews -
"The salad bar was complete and fresh." In 6 reviews
Loading...
25 reviews in English
-
Review from Jamie B.
4/13/2012 3 Check-ins Here
A great place for the entire family to have fun! IT is not the best food out there, but it does the job. More importantly the kids love it and we always have a blast when we go.
We also love all of the different rooms that you can have dinner or a snack in. We usually end up in the movie room. -
Review from Eloy W.
Espanola, NM
3/1/2012
We had a fun time here at Amazing Jakes.
Food, fun and games to spare. It is the first indoor putt putt place that I have ever played. The food was surprisingly decent. The buffet offered a lot with the main thing as PIZZA, a kid's favorite.
With kids running all over, it exciting to see all those happy faces.
One complaint would be in the private party room it smelled almost too sanitized, if that is possible?...lay off the pine sol ha jk.
All in all it was a great experience!Comment from Jeremy H. of Amazing Jake's 3/3/2012
Thank you so much for taking the time to give us great… More » -
Review from Justin G.
Scottsdale, AZ
12/8/2011 1 Check-in Here
I went here for a work event today. We had unlimited access to the buffet and got to play all of the arcade games, bowl, go-cart, etc. Everything was as expected; full of events for kids and decent food. Their salads were my favorite (especially being a veg). They come with a wide variety of veggies and dressings.
Their rides were all fine. Some had minor issues as expected. All of the arcade games worked great.
It's a cool place to take your kids. I wouldn't suggest anything past that. -
Review from Lee Ann W.
Mesa, AZ
11/12/2011 1 Check-in Here
Birthday party for my son - first time here pretty impressed so far. Spent the entire afternoon enjoying Amazing Jakes for my son's 13th Birthday Party.
Very cool place for kids. The only problem I had was that there are no lockers to put valuables for the adults. For the parents this means that someone is always stuck at the table watching the "stuff." I did happen to make the suggestion to the manager this evening while picking up the remainder of our birthday cake.
Over all very impressive place. Yes it's a little bit more than the average, but when you break it down it is worth it.
Age appropriate for 8 and up especially.Listed in: Favorites
-
Review from Diane R.
Avondale, AZ
12/2/2011
A day of fun, laughter & exercise! What more could you
ask for?! Oh yea, lunch too! Awesome -
Review from Brian M.
Peoria, AZ
5/14/2011
I'll give this a 4 star rating.
People need to learn to have an expectation and what you should expect is that there are tons of kids running around (after all, this place is pretty much an attraction for kids!) and you can expect that by the end of the day, it won't be perfect.
We have done birthdays here before and the party room experience blows...it's all rush, rush, rush. Today, we jus had our daughters 5 birthday and, knowing the issues we have had in the past, we planned around it.
Instead of getting a party room, we got there right when the place opened (10:00 am). We chose a spot in one of the rooms and and set up camp. We had about 15 people with us, so we did take up a bit of room. With the buffet and the "all day" pass (which really only lasts 3 hours), it cost about 15 bucks a person.
Being there early, we learned the place starts getting slammed around noon, we had a great time. The lines were not too long, the food was coming out pretty fresh and hot, and the kids were having a good time. The staff is always friendly and they do their best.
We hung out until about 2 and got out of the before it got too crazy.
If you expect great food, your gong to be disappointed. It's a quantity over quality thing with this place. Food will not be super great, bu kids will be happy...and I always eat enough to be full. -
Review from Dawn W.
Scottsdale, AZ
3/7/2011
Amazing Jakes is GROSS! And, I don't just mean the food, the filth, and the broken games.
This place is a pedophile's dream! It is used as a babysitting service to countless amounts of teens and preteens (even saw a few unattended kids who couldn't have been over 8) with NO security service provided. The teens who work here are not qualified to handle a serious situation.
If you have never been to this dive, picture the kiddie area at the state fair put indoors, add a small bowling alley and you have Amazing Jakes.
As for you grown men who go there to hang out- GROSS! And to the adult couples who go there on a date- WEIRD!
I saw very few involved parents. Most of the parents who actually were there looked like teenager mothers hanging out with their friends.
Prepare to pay a minimum of $20 for dinner and games. Long lines for the rides are inevitable (we waited over an hour to drive the race cars.) And 1/3-1/2 of the arcade games are broken.
Save your $ and don't waste your time. Your kids will have a much better time somewhere else.
Because of extremely long lines, faulty equipment, and rude unsupervised children, my daughter walked away disappointed by the whole experience. -
Review from Carrie M.
Mesa, AZ
3/7/2011
You get what you pay for. At least that's what my mother always told me. And at Amazing Jake's, that's basically the truth. I recently went for a 5-year-old's birthday party. The kids seemed to have a great time, playing cheesy arcade games (you know, the kind where you earn tickets to redeem for crappy prizes later on), and riding the carnival-style rides. It's basically like a Chuck E. Cheese, but bigger. MUCH bigger. Of course, everything costs extra (games, bowling, mini-golf, laser tag), but that's to be expected. The party I attended included an all-you-can-eat buffet (mostly kid-friendly food - not great, but not horrible) and a card that allowed "unlimited" rides (there were four that our little guy could go on).
This is definitely a place geared towards kids. If you keep that in mind, it's a decent place to take kids on a hot summer afternoon in Arizona, but nothing special. I don't really recommend it for a birthday party, since they force you to stay in the "birthday room" for the first 90 minutes. They don't even hand out the "fun cards" until after the food, cake, and presents. Seriously, what kid wants to stay in a room when they can see a bunch of rides and games through the large window?? -
Review from Rand H.
11/2/2009
Dropped into this screwball place for the lunch buffet today, with Mike C., arriving at 11 AM opening time to avoid any 1-Star kid behaviors, ambulance calls, & so on such as I read about here!
To start with, Amazing Jake's is ENORMOUS! Next, it was completely CLEAN when I came, what I read from others here notwithstanding. Again though, I came early. There were two delicious soups, a nice salad bar with more goodies than average, several kinds of tasty but meatless pastas, several types of pizza out at a time, & some different dessert choices, including very good soft-serve ice cream. There are FIVE distinct public dining areas, each one done in a different, attractive style (think Disneyland), and also a sports bar, which would be more for adults drinking (although that's not a rule), & watching sports. I sat in a dining room that was like a living room, & very comfortable.
For teens & kids as a target market, they have a mid-sized real bowling alley, a theatre, minature golf, rides, & zillions of video games. Judged strictly as a buffet restaurant, it's a little short on meat for my taste & the pizza's not great, but overall it's good There's a banquet room by the way, (besides the other 6 dining areas!), plus a lot of private party rooms, & more.
There's no admission charge, but buffet purchase is mandatory. Inside, big & small screen sports shows are free, big-screen movies are free (room opens at 2 PM), & the other attractions & games cost extra. Margaritas & beer are available & adults without kids are welcome & can have fun here, especially those coming with friends to watch sporting events.
Adult Buffet is $7.99 until 3 PM, then $9.99. Vegetarian friendly.
Lunch Buffet: 4 Stars... The food beats the buffets at Pizza Hut, Cici's, Peter Piper, Pepi's & LJ's, comes in about equal to The Pizza Buffet, & the atmosphere here blows all the others away. Also, they have beer! :-))
Amusements for teens & kids: 5-Stars! AMAZING! -
Review from Anna M.
Mesa, AZ
6/4/2009
Horrible, terrible foodborne illness.
Shoulda turned back when I saw a kid put his whole fist into a jello after wiping his nose. Sure, they replaced it, but... one person manning a three mile long buffet cannot snuff out all the snots.
How bad was it you say? Oh, well, when the PARAMEDICS showed up at my house, they thought I was a goner. During the ambulance ride I profusely vomited on, and shat on, the sexy EMT. The sexy ones always show up when you are projectile... anything. Almost ten hours and two bags of fluid later, I was allowed to leave the hospital.
"Oh, but Anna," you say. "How could you have possibly known this unfortunate illness was the result of excessively greasy pizza, premade salad and buffet style fruit?" Well, the neighbors who had gone around the same time also spent a few days wrestling for the toilet. If we could sell explosive baby poop, we would have been in business. Amazing Jakes was the only food within a week that we all shared... I'm going to go ahead and place the blame there.
That pizza tastes exactly the same coming up 24 hours later.
Thanks there Amazing Jakes. I am now thoroughly terrified to set foot in a buffet place again. -
Review from Yvett R.
6/15/2011 1 Check-in Here
This place is exactly what you'd expect . . . lots of kids, lots of noise and an alright buffet. We went on a Tuesday when they offer a one-time price of $18.99 per person but this includes the buffet and EVERYTHING in the place except for games that give out tickets or prices. It's a "for real" all day price too, not just the three hours. We got there at about noon and didn't leave until almost 9:00 PM.
For that price we did the laser tag (a few times), bumper cars (a few times), miniature golf, cosmic bowling, go-carts, video games, air hockey, lunch, dinner, dessert and the kids got on the rides like 75 million times. We paid $82 for our family of four which I think for all we got is a great deal anywhere.
Now, the buffet is not gourmet by any standards, but it's OK. There were several kinds of pizza and pastas, a couple of soups, a baked potato station, a salad bar, the standard soda fountain and several desserts. They also have different themed dining rooms, so we had lunch in the movie room, dessert in the club house and dinner in the sports room.
I suppose they also sell beer and wine. I didn't try any, but just be warned that if you're that dad that's trying to beat your tween at air hockey while playing with one hand and holding a glass of red wine in the other, you look like a giant DB.
Again, yes the place is loud, yes there are A LOT of kids, but they all seem to be having a blast, at least mine did. To see them have as much fun as they did, I'd gladly tolerate all that noise! -
Review from Stephanie L.
Phoenix, AZ
4/28/2010
I was not amazed. Nope. Sometimes it's fun to act like a kid again. I love Dave and Buster's, but we were in the mood for go karts and it was too hot outside for Fiddlestix. I saw a deal online and should've realized then it was too good to be true.
We got 3 hours, some video game credits, and a meal for about $20 each. When I was reading the description online, I was picturing this: large pizza and salad buffet (ok, I wasn't really expecting a lot from this), indoor go karts, bowling, 18-hole mini golf course, rock climbing wall, indoor roller coaster.. I was sorely disappointed.
As soon as we walked in the door, I noticed everything seemed cheap. A lot of the paint here is sloppy, and in areas the floor is messed up. The furnishings are well worn. It looked like there used to be a large grocery/big box store here that was repurposed. I'd already paid for our tickets online, so we proceeded.
First, we ate the buffet. There were grubby grubby children all over- I have no problem with kids (or I wouldn't have come here in the first place) but there was no supervision whatsoever at the buffet, and some children don't know enough manners to be by themselves. I stayed away from a few of the items for this reason- not enough tongs and too many dirty hands touching noses and foodses!
The "salad bar" was pathetic. Plain iceberg lettuce and not much to go with it. The pizza wasn't much either, very bland but I can see kids liking it. The pasta was the same, along with being overcooked. For dessert I had an ice cream cone and a rice krispie treat...those are hard to get wrong. We each got a beer- it took about 10 minutes just to flag someone at the liquor counter down. Eager to go be "amazed", we quickly drank the beers in a faux garden and then made our way onward.
We went to the other side of the building to start our "fun". To let our food digest, we decided to go for the mini golf first. Probably 75% of the holes are just simple variations on straight lines and zigzags. The landscaping is pathetic..I think maybe it was supposed to be beach-themed? I felt like I could build something better in my backyard. Again, it was totally unsupervised so kids were running from hole to hole, going in the wrong order, and getting in the way.
Next, we tried the "indoor roller coaster". If you've ever been to a fair, it's a Himalaya. It's a very old, rickety, bumpy Himalaya. I had bruises on my legs after riding this. I was somewhat worried it would fall apart while we were on it.
By now, we were getting a little low on time and decided to go over to the go karts. There was a long, long line that seemed to move so slowly. They only had 4 karts, and only ran 2 at a time while the next 2 people sat waiting. We soon saw why- this go kart track is just a small oval. We decided to make the best of it, and anxiously waited our turns. At long last, we were racing! Well, that was until they decided my fiance was driving too fast and *electronically slowed his car*. That pretty much took all of the fun out of it.
After that, we used the credits on our cards- the games were not a great value so they were all gone within about 10 minutes. I didn't even win enough tickets to get good junk candy, so I ended up giving my card to a coworker for his kids.
Initially, we had thought about bowling after our time expired (you have to pay extra). However, by the time we'd been through the whole experience, we wanted to get out of this dump and back home. Amazing Jake's may be good for kids who don't know any better, but it's not a good place to try and have fun if you're just adults who wish they were kids. -
Review from Margaret L.
Surprise, AZ
8/4/2007
More in the range of a 3.5, this place is definitely better than some of your other run of the mill arcade/food/bowling/laser tag...etc places.
Sure, there are lots of minis running around screaming (which explains my rating_), but there are attractions for the older crowd too. If I had kids, I probably would have rated it a four. However, it's a little pricey, running at $22 per adult. There are lots of different pricing packages depending on what you might want to indulge in. I was treated for free though...otherwise I might not have gone of my own accord.
Oh thank goodness for the bar!
Margaritas for $6, good amount of alcohol, but a little on the pricey side. It did make for a fun round of laser tag though. Okay so I made for a good target....oh well.
The sports bar was a really nice area for sports junkies to watch various favorites on the tv.
Lots of different arcade games, all the general ones. The card swipey system was a little tough to deal with, what with the games reading the card sometimes and sometimes needing to swipe several times. All but two ticket counters were broken as well, which made for long lines.
It's a great place to people watch, especially on the rock climbing. You'd think that if someone kept losing their grip at a certain section they would try a different route instead of going up and falling at the same point at least 5 times.
The food was surprisingly good for a place like this, tons of things to choose from and tasty to boot. Now it's not gourmet, mind you, but compared to similar places, I'd say Amazing Jake's food is higher on the quality scale. It's all you can eat, so at least it makes spending all that money to enter the place feel a little worth it.
Would I go again? Maybe if I ever have kids, for a family outing. I had fun, and the laser tag was by far worth doing....but once was enough for me. -
Review from Natalie W.
Chandler, AZ
3/16/2007
I though I was going to hate Amazing Jakes, as I am not a fan of the Peter Pipier Pizza-type places. Mediocre pizza, tons of screaming kids, and paying WAY too much for a little fun. I'd rather go to the park.
BUT, for what it is, Jakes is a cut above the other guys. First of all, I was surprised by the decor/ambiance. Definitely more classy and adult-oriented than I expected.
Second, the place is HUGE. No matter how full the parking lot looks, the cavernous place absorbs the masses, and individual dining rooms and attractions are hardly ever full.
Then there are the rides and games. Pretty much everything you could ask for. Bowling, a rock wall, laser tag, video games, etc... As was said before, the food is nothing great, but better than I expected.
We hosted out high school's grad party here and was VERY pleased with the outcome. The management and staff were great. If you don't mind plunking down the $$$ for the food and amusements, go for it. Like me, you might be pleasantly surprised.Listed in: Kids Stuff
-
Review from Kelly W.
Tempe, AZ
8/23/2007
Some of my coworkers thought I was crazy when I wanted to go to lunch at Mesa's Amazing Jakes to celebrate my birthday a couple years ago. And they were right to a certain extent. I was definitely crazy to want to eat there. My pizza was cold and looked like something out of a grade school cafeteria and the food buffet was not appetizing in the least.
But we ended up having one of the best lunches ever after we ate. Some of us rocked "Dance Dance Revolution" and we killed at Skee-Ball. And I even talked some friends into riding the carousel. Infact it was hard to leave Amazing Jakes and go back to work.
While this may not make the greatest lunch destination, it's certainly a fun time for those wanting to be a kid again or a cool place to take kids. -
Review from Michael C.
Scottsdale, AZ
3/4/2008 1 Check-in Here
Great place for the kids... and adults...
Cosmic bowling, car racing, rock wall, air hockey, various little-kid rides, and tons of video games. It also has several different themed dining rooms and lots of food to choose from. Admittance gets you all you can eat food, and access to video games -- rides and bowling cost extra.
We have a blast every time we go. -
Review from Nathan W.
Alameda, CA
12/23/2009
This place is a given if you have kids and find yourself in the East Valley...
The food isn't the best, but it is edible. This review is more about the total experience. To comment just on the food doesn't do the place justice...
I'd rather spend an afternoon here then at Chuck E. Cheese any day... -
Review from Matt S.
6/17/2009 2 Check-ins Here
Have to agree with some of the reviews here. You should only go here if you want to lose a lot of weight quickly from vomiting and the other end all night long. Dirty dirty dirty. Everything is dirty and nasty and on top of it all they charge you way to much. Chuckie cheese is a cleaner place then this and I would not want my dog eating off the floor of this place. I am sorry to be so harsh, but this is the sad reality of this place. If you own the place and are reading this, fix it up a little - do a better job and more people would probably come. Think about quality and your kids eating and playing there.
-
Review from Mike H.
3/11/2010
LONG REVIEW...cause' parents don't have money to waste!
Little kids like a lot of space to run around (running is prohibited) and everything is bigger to little ones, so Amazing Jake's probably seems like a planet to them.
The website does a good job at listing and describing all the attractions and restrictions.
They offer online coupons if you sign up for an email thingy, and it doesn't annoy you more than once a month. We used a $12.99 3-hour deal which included everything except bowling and video games. You have to put money on cards to play the arcade machines, which we didn't do, so I can't comment on the quality, up-to-dateness or reliability of any of the games, but I can say that there are plenty of them. I also can't say how much the machines cost. For $5 more, you get bowling and video games all day; nice for Saturday or if you got the day off and the kids are out of school. Buffet was included.
We brought kids ranging from 16 down to 7...and there was a 10 year old girl, too. We went on a Wednesday night the place; was so empty there was hardly a wait for anything. *hint hint, parents with short fuses, this is good for you*
The rock climbing wall is about 25 feet and looks like all the hand and foot holds are in tact. The workers rotated often - some were attentive others weren't.
The mini-coaster is just a round track with a bunch of carts on it and a couple stuffed Batmans sitting in the middle looking sick and woozy. They made me giggle, then wish that more effort was put into presentation. This ride went pretty darn fast for the 10 and 7 year old, and they got a kick out of it. A teen wouldn't get too much of a thrill unless they are a wuss. Adults would fit in the cars just fine, but would probably fall asleep. Good for the younger kids.
Laser tag made me smile. It was such a humble attempt, but at least they tried. The arena is small, but remember its for kids, and they will probably find the size just fine. The 'walls' are just screens with little holes to snipe through. The bases are lights that you can stand and tag all day long. My main issue is the vests and guns...but, I guess I will drop my haughty Laser Tagophileness and remember that this is FOR THE KIDS. I didn't get to see the reaction of the teens, but the younger ones had FUN. Our littlest is a small guy and he was able to handle the gun just fine.
The bumper cars only had 4 operable with one poor piece of junk sitting in the corner. The arena is small, even for little kids. The cars provide the right amount of BUMP for adults and won't jar smaller kids' brains loose. The important thing is that every kid that was in here was smiling and laughing the whole time, so that's all you need to know.
I didn't ride the go-karts, and both the 10 and 7 year old were too short, so I can't comment on the quality of the karts or track. The teens were unimpressed, BUT, keep in mind that we've been going to one of those REAL go-kart places lately where the karts go like...fast, so yeah. If your kid is tall enough (58 inches) they will enjoy it...I mean it IS go-karts, after all. If they are too short, they can ride with someone or just look longingly from the sideline. Awww.
Amazing Jake's bowling wasn't good. The shoes aren't fit to give to the homeless. The balls have more gnashes and bumps in them than Mickey Rourke and Ray Liotta's faces combined (sorry, dudes). The lanes are unevenly waxed. The score-keepers end your game early. There is a serious lack of available weights and sizes of bowling balls for smaller bowlers. One good thing was that the staff (when there WAS staff even there) made wrong things right and were decently pleasant about it. Not worth the price, though. I'm sorry. Find a local bowling alley, try to get coupons for it, and go there instead.
We didn't do the other attractions.
The buffet? About 6 kinds of pizza, a nice selection of salad stuff, two soups, breads, your usual pasta suspects, very few dessert options, and a large variety of fountain drinks. The pasta was quite tasty believe it or not. The pizza will suit kids. The salad was fresh. Its 10 bucks for adults and 7 something for kids 10 & under. You'll use the toilet, no doubt...
Bathrooms were clean...but it wasn't busy so not a lot of dumps were taken.
Staff was sparse due to what night it was, and they ranged from very friendly and helpful to lethargic. I did like how hard the buffet staff worked to keep things clean and refreshed. And like I mentioned, the bowling staff fixed our problems and were patient with all the kids.
The regular prices are too high, but its because they have the added attractions and the buffet - $22. Sign up for the coupons or go somewhere else, unless that's not expensive for you. They have other packages that are in the more affordable range like $13
Will your kids have fun? Yes, if they are under 13. Will you have fun? Yes, if you like to see your kids have fun. -
Review from Michael H.
Chandler, AZ
1/22/2007
Description:
I wanted to share with you my recent experience at this birthday party factory. It's sort of a Peter Piper Pizza on 'Roids, complete with Laser Tag, Bumper Cars, and a Bowling Alley. combined with a Salad/Pizza buffet. There is also a bar serving beer, wine and 'Rita's (it may possibly be full service)
While Amazing Jake's caters to group events like birthday parties, anyone can walk in an plop down a hunk of cash to eat, drink and play. There are multiple themed rooms where you can enjoy your meal. Some of the rooms included a movie room, showing kids movies, two rooms with sports themes, and a few others. Buffet prices are about what you'd pay anywhere, $7.99 per adult for unlimited buffet, $3.99 or $4.99 for the little kids. The birthday party price is $9.95 per kid and includes unlimited soft drinks, the buffet, 10 tokens per guest, a room and a server.
Of course, don't put your wallet away quite yet. Every attraction has an individual price, or you can purchase unlimited use wristbands, the pricing for that (I think) is $5.95 for the little kids attractions and $10.95 for most everything (bowling is extra). The a la carte prices are pretty steep in comparison (e.g. $5.25 for a single Go cart ride), so I'd recommend the wristband.
One very important thing to know about your Amazing Jake's birthday party is that while parents are allowed in to drop and pick up their children, if they stay the length of the party you will be charged a buffet for each parent. Some of the attending parents knew this, others didn't. I would suggest that if this s important to you that you somehow make sure the parents know the deal..
Review:
The reservation process went smoothly, we made our reservations on site (I think you can also do so on-line and by phone) and were handed a set of invitations, with the instruction to arrive 15 minutes early. We chose to have our party at 10AM, a little early, but we had other things going on that day. We arrived at 9:40 and the doors were locked. After a few minutes we were allowed in and asked to wait. We then spent the next 15 minutes waiting at the entrance lobby while our room was prepared. I do not understand why they could not have been a little more organized for the first group of the day. None the less, we were shown in to our room that was nicely decorated. We had been warned that we might end up sharing our room, and in fact we did end up doing so. My wife asked if we could have the location where we could see most of the arcade area, and we were informed that we could not. Off to a bad start.
You are invited to stay at Jake's all day, but for your birthday party, you only have the reserved room for 90 minutes. We chose to allow the kids to play for 45 minutes and then site them down for pizza, cake and gifts. This strategy worked well enough, except that locating the 10 kids in this warehouse was a bit of a chore, and the kids in laser tags would be in there about 10 minutes at a time. I managed to have the kids located in about 10 minutes, leaving us only 35 minutes left to eat and scoot.
OK, the food:
- They offer three soups, I enjoyed the roasted Tomato and the Thai Chicken. Both were very good
- They offer three or four pasta dishes, I had a little bit of Cajun Penne that was nicely spicy
- The salad bar was complete and fresh
- I had one slice of pizza which I thought was unremarkable. The sauce was bland, as was the pepperoni. I would give them good marks for the variety of pizza's they offered.
- There was a wide selection of desserts, which I managed to avoid
I keep thinking about Sweet Tomatoes as I review the offerings here, it is quite similar.
All went well, our server was quite helpful, bringing in pizza and pitchers of drinks for the kids, lighting the cake, cutting and handing out the cake. and of course, picking up our mess :) Midway through our visit, she approached us, apologized for the early confusion, and gave us a bag of 200 tokens for our trouble. Ahh, now we are feeling better...
But wait, the boys are telling us that they were not allowed on the bumper cars because they had the wrong wristband! We paid the $10.95 fee, what was the deal? My wife spoke to the bumper car operator, who gave the predictable "Uh, it wasn't me" response. My wife complained about this to one of the managers, who gave us a credit for $95! Holy cow!
Conclusions:
Our cost, after a couple of extra adults, 7 big kids and two smaller kids came to about $225. Adding the tip for the hostess it came to about $25/person. That's not dirt cheap, but compared to other parties we've had, it is pretty competitive with renting a bounce and doing it at your house.
I could really see getting together with another dad or two and taking the kids there in the evening, enjoying a beer or two in one of the sports rooms while they kids run around. I'm guessing that's where my $95 credit is going to go. -
Review from Bri D.
Seattle, WA
3/11/2009
As strange as it may seem, I'm pretty sure there were more adults than kids here. Amazing Jake's is a great place for food, fun, and some sports on the tv. They have all sorts of silly themed rooms to eat your food in, my favorite (and my husband's favorite) being the sports themed room. They have a giant projection screen in there where they usually play games on. The food here is pretty decent. I am kind of a fan of terrible buffet/cafeteria style food, and AJ's hits it right on the head here. Yum. Don't come expecting amazing food. There is also, of course, a giant area with tons of fun arcade games to make you feel like a kid again. I had a blast when I went here with my husband. Amazing Jake's is definitely a fun place to forget about the outside world and be like a kid again.
-
Review from Beth S.
Pinal, AZ
4/17/2011
I wish I would have read Monique's review before booking my son's birthday party here. A friend of mine had her daughter's birthday party here in September and she tried to talk me out of it because it was so busy, but I thought since her daughter's party also happened to fall on Ramadan that was why it was so busy. Boy, was I wrong. My experience was almost exactly like Monique's (read her review on here on 12/20/10) only I do have to say the waitress did ask a lot of questions but I don't blame her she was only like 16, but I do blame the management for the constant questions throughout the party. We only had our room for 1 1/2 hrs and then were shifted into the sports bar area to finish it out because they needed the room. We also paid for the most expensive tickets for many of the guests and found out that the kids only got to ride 1 or 2 rides in the time we had there because it was so packed. The food was ok but either parents need to supervise their kids better in the food area or workers need to clean up more often because it got rather filthy. We took our son here to have a memorable party and the next day he asked if next year we could just take him to Peter Piper Pizza instead. I really wish we would have this time, it would have saved us over $200.
A young lady did call about a week later to see how our experience was there and I when I told the her what had happened (I was very nice to her and just gave her the facts) she was pretty upset and said she would have a manager call me back and maybe they could give us tickets to come back another time. It's been almost a month and I have yet to hear from anyone there. Obviously management doesn't care. Needless to say, we will never be returning to this establishment. -
Review from John K.
Gilbert, AZ
2/14/2010
A little pricey for what you get in return. A fun place to take the kids, lot's of good activities, ie. bumper cars, mini golf, video games, go carts.. Everything else is typical Chuck E Cheese....overpriced tokens, skee ball, video games, and cheap trinkets. Overall, it is a fun place to go...
-
Review from Heather D.
Mayer, AZ
5/6/2008
My colleagues and I decided to give this place a try for an afternoon out of the office. I must say, we were all impressed. We had low expectations going in, given the poor food quality and surroundings in competitor's facilities (i.e. Peter Piper, Fiddlesticks). The margarita machine wasn't working, but two of my coworkers tried the beer and wine, and they were pleased. The macaroni is excellent, and the pizza's pretty good too! They have many choices in the fountain beverages. The salad bar was also appealing and pleasing. My only disappointment was with the desserts, which just didn't taste as good as the rest of the food. Also, I don't know if there's mold in the place or what, but we were all coughing and suffering from sore throats by the day's end. Not sure if we'll be back to this location, but I wouldn't say no if I were invited. They also have great packages which include use of the games and other entertainment facilities, like laser tag and bowling.
-
Review from Jasmine C.
Phoenix, AZ
12/23/2008
We have been here at least a half dozen times. I think the food is really good for a pizza buffet place. I love the macaroni and cheese or the alfredo pasta. The baked potato bar is delicious. My kids like the soups. The salad bar is good. Everything is fresh and they have a nice assortment of toppings. Since the last time I went they reduced some of the salad options that I liked- feta cheese, blue cheese crumbles, baby corn, ect. The pizza choices are interesting and mostly good. The beverage bar is above average as well. I have to agree with a previous reviewer about the desserts... ick! the kids like it though so I guess it is okay to save me the calories and fat of indulging in dessert. :) I think the $7.99 for an adult lunch Monday- Thurs. or Friday and $5.99 for kids- 3 and under eat free is very reasonable. The kids and I always eat our lunch while watching a movie in the theatre room. We have never done bowling, rock wall, mini golfing or laser tag but we will some day. The kids have stuck to the rides- mostly frog hopper, tea cups and mini roller coaster thing as well as the games.
